A Sister's Love
by Nelinde A
Summary: When Candace finally loses it and destroys Phineas' brand new project, it finally hits home that her entire purpose this summer has been to get him in trouble.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I do not own Phineas and Ferb. Do we really have to say that? It's a fanfic site, by definition this stuff doesn't belong to us, or it'd be canon. Anyway, while the thing I love most about Phineas is he would do anything for Candace and doesn't realize she's out to get him, I did wonder what would happen if he ever found out the sister he adores has been trying to "hurt" him all this time. Enjoy!**

Part 1

Isabella skipped across the street and up to her neighbor's house. She pushed open the gate and saw her crush. She never quite understood how he became more attractive every day, but that was one question she was content to leave unanswered. "Hey Phineas!" she said cheerfully. "What'cha doin'?"

"We haven't decided yet," Phineas told her. "Ferb and I were just talking about that. Hey, it's been a while since _you've_ picked something. Any requests?"

"Weeeeell," Isabella said slowly. "As it turns out, I'm really motivated to get my Harvesting An Exotic Fruit patch. The people at the Botanical Gardens promised us that we could come when their Dragonfruit crop was ready, and that was yesterday. The girls did tell me that, and invited me to go with them, but…"

She looked at Phineas, who was smiling expectantly, waiting for her to finish.

Isabella sighed and hung her head. "But I wanted to ride on the giant tire swing with you guys."

"Wow," Phineas said. "I'm sorry, Isabella, I had no idea you liked tire swings so much!" He didn't see the dirty look she gave him as he turned to his brother. "Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today! We're going to help Isabella get that patch! It's the least we can do to make up for yesterday. Hey, where's Perry?"

An hour or so later saw the backyard covered with several rows of vines that were producing kiwanos. The trio had invented a growth elixir, different than the one the boys had made to help Baljeet grow a giant watermelon. This one simply sped up the growing process. They were using fancy spraying machines to douse the fruit one last time, and then it would be ready for harvesting.

At that moment, Candace and Stacy walked out of the house. "I'm telling you Stacy, Slushy Dawg _hasn't_ changed their recipe since they opened," Candace said. "It's right in their slogan!"

"If you say so," Stacy replied. "But the dawg I had last night tasted considerably slushier than it used to."

"Hold up," Candace said. "Phineas, WHAT are you guys doing?"

"We're helping Isabella earn a patch," Phineas replied.

"No, I mean what are you doing to the backyard?"

"Ooh, are those kiwanos?" Stacy asked. "How exotic!"

"Yeah, if you stick around for a minute you can try one!" Phineas said.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Candace said, pulling out her phone. "I'm calling Mom."

Stacy walked over to Phineas, who handed her a fruit. "Hey, has anyone asked where Perry is yet?"

"Yeah, earlier this morning," Phineas told her.

"Shoot," Stacy said. "I'm almost never here in time to say it."

"Come back tomorrow, and we'll wait for you!" Phineas offered.

No one noticed the green beam that hit Candace just then. She slowly hung up before her mother had even answered, and dropped the phone. "No," she said. "You know what? Mom's not going to see it anyway. She never does, and you guys get away with it anyway. Well not today, today I do the busting, and if it gets me in trouble, so be it!"

Before anyone could quite process what she meant by that, Candace charged straight into the plants with a war cry. She tore them all out and began stomping on them.

"Candace, wait, what are you doing?" Phineas gasped.

"Candace!" Isabella cried.

"Woah," Stacy said. "I've never seen it this bad before."

"Candace, you're ruining them!" Phineas protested, but his sister wasn't listening. With more speed than one would have thought possible, she went through and trampled and destroyed every kiwano plant there was. When she was finished, she stood, heaving and sweating, before straightening up.

Everyone just stared at her in silence. "Okay!" Stacy finally said. "I have no idea where that came from, but I think this is something you guys need to figure out alone. I'll be at home if anyone needs me." She handed her kiwano back to Isabella, who took it without seeing it, and walked out the gate. "See ya."

"Candace, what the heck was that?" Phineas demanded. "That took us all morning, and we didn't even get a chance to get the fruit for Isabella's patch!"

Candace stared at what she'd done, then turned to Phineas. "I did it," she said. "I busted you guys! All by myself, without Mom!"

"Candace, why would you do something like that?" Isabella asked, with tears in her eyes. Phineas looked at her worriedly, than back at his sister with a frown.

"What do you mean why?" Candace asked. "Do you seriously mean to tell me you don't know that I've been trying to bust you guys all summer? Well, I mean, I'm sorry you got dragged into this Isabella, but my brothers have been doing dangerous inventions for too long now, and I finally decided to do something about it."

"What was so dangerous about planting kiwanos?" Phineas asked angrily.

"It wasn't about the stupid kiwanos!" Candace burst out. "It's that you made some sort of potion to speed up the growing, and used big dangerous machines to apply it! It's that if I'd tried to bring Mom here, you guys would have harvested and gotten rid of the fruit by the time she arrived. It's that you've been doing this kind of thing all summer, and I've been killing myself trying to get you in trouble for it, but no, you guys always get away with it, and _I_ look like the fool."

Phineas' frown began to melt into a look of sadness. "I thought you liked our inventions," he said quietly. "I thought that was why you always wanted to know what we were doing, and why you wanted to show Mom."

"Seriously?" Candace said, almost screaming now. "Why couldn't I have had normal, dumb brothers? Why couldn't you and Ferb just have been normal, dumb kids doing normal, dumb stuff, like every other big sister has? I hope you never build another invention again, and then maybe you two won't embarrass me so much!"

Phineas opened his mouth, but then he shut it and bit his lip. He watched as Candace spun on her heel and walked into the house. Ferb put his hand on his brother's shoulder, and Isabella wrapped her arms around him. "Oh, Phineas…"

But Phineas gently broke away from them. "I'm sorry we couldn't get your patch, Isabella," he said quickly, and then ran into the house as well.

Isabella and Ferb shared a look, and then Ferb began to follow his brother. "Ferb?" Isabella asked. He turned and looked back at her. "It's okay that we couldn't get the patch," she said. "The Gardens can always let me know next time they have an exotic fruit. I'm really not worried about it…but I am worried about him. Let me know how he's doing later?"

Ferb nodded, and waved good-bye as she dejectedly walked back through the gate. He slowly trudged up the stairs, and could hear Candace in her room, saying impatiently, "Come on Stacy, pick up, pick up…" He went to his own room and pushed open the door, revealing all the lights turned off and the shades pulled down. Phineas was sitting huddled up on his bed, sniffling and clutching his knees. He didn't look up at Ferb, who sat down on his own bed.

Eventually Phineas spoke. "Did you know she was embarrassed of us?"

Ferb never wasted his words, but speaking to Phineas was never a waste. "Well," he said. "I suppose she did hint at that, but she seemed to enjoy herself so many times with us that I just assumed she was trying to be cool."

Phineas put his head in his hands. "We're terrible brothers," he said.

"No, we're not," Ferb said. "You know how sometimes she asks us not to do things that day? And we never do. We didn't know, if she'd just asked us to stop we would have." He was saying this to comfort Phineas, but deep down he knew that they'd continue building things if the president himself asked them to stop.

"But we should have known." Phineas looked up with a haunted look that killed Ferb to see. " _I_ should have known. I should have seen that we were hurting her…am I really that oblivious of a person?"

Ferb didn't mean to think of Isabella right then, but he did and so couldn't truthfully answer that question. "Everyone's oblivious to some things," he said. "You have to make sure that you build an elaborate contraption every day that is both safe and legal, so who can blame you if other things slip through the cracks."

"She's my _sister_!" Phineas protested. "I don't want her to slip through the cracks!" Tears began forming in his eyes, and he quickly turned away. "From now on, I'll do what she wants. I'll never build anything again."

Ferb was startled, even though he didn't truly believe it, but he sat in silence, determined to stay there as long as was necessary.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay, okay, I'm back, and I'm sorry it took this long to update! There's only one more chapter after this, and it's already written. Thanks to everyone who favorited, followed and reviewed-I do take your comments to heart even when I don't reply, and it means a lot to me that you do that! So I just published the first chapter of my B plot story to this one: "Agent Stacy." Go read that chapter, and then come back to this one. Or don't. Basically I just say that so you'd know that yes, Candace was hit by an inator, one that tempted her to destroy yet another invention that drove her crazy, but she was not in any way forced to do so; she could have made the decision to resist. Now that that's out of the way, here we go!**

Part 2

Candace's alarm woke her up the next morning. It was only after she turned it off and dragged herself out of bed that she realized what an unusual occurrence that was. Most days she was awaken by the sound of whatever Phineas and Ferb happened to be building that morning. She went over to the window and looked out. Nothing. They weren't even sitting under that tree. Candace shrugged; if they were doing anything at a different location she'd hear about it sooner or later. She wandered downstairs and got herself a bowl of cereal.

"Good morning, Candace," her mom said, walking in with her purse. "Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro's birthday dinner is tonight, and I'm off to find a gift. Your father is re-painting our bedroom, so I'd stay out of there today. I'll see you later."

"Bye, Mom," Candace said. "Oh, have you seen the boys today?"

"No, I guess they're still in bed," was the answer. "Check on them if they're not up soon, okay? I know it's summer and they can sleep in if they want, but they usually don't."

"Don't worry, they'll be doing something bustable eventually," Candace muttered into her cereal.

But by the time she'd finished, still no noise came from outside. It was late morning now, and Candace wondered if they'd actually decided to sleep in like every normal kid. Too bad she hadn't known that, or she would have done the same. She went back up to her room, but sat by the window as sentry. She tried calling Stacy again, but still no answer. "Hey Stace, it's me," Candace said, when it went to voicemail. "Again. You haven't been picking up your phone, so…if anything's up just let me know. And if you see the boys doing anything, let me know that too, since I'm coming up empty here. K, bye."

Candace tapped her phone against her hand and looked out the window again. Let's see, what else could she do with her time? She'd call Jeremy, but she knew he was at work. Vanessa? No…Vanessa was someone too cool to be bombarding with phone calls all the time. Candace had called her last week, she'd have to wait at least another for it not to be creepy. There was Jenny, of course, but Jenny was so busy that Candace knew it was a long shot to try her. She sighed and pulled up her friend's number anyway.

But before she could dial it, she heard a knock on her door. She slid off her seat and went to open it. "Ferb!" she said. "About time you guys were up, I was so bored I almost called Jenny!" She stared at his big eyes, which were looking back at her, occasionally blinking. "What?" she asked. "What are you waiting for, time's a-wastin', get to building something so I can bust you!"

"Do you know where Phineas is?" Ferb asked.

Candace looked surprised. "Um, no, isn't he with you?"

"He's still in bed," Ferb said.

"Oh, yeah, well I kind of figured that," Candace said. "Mom said you guys were just sleeping in."

"When has he ever done that?" Ferb asked. "He can't build anything while he's sleeping; morning is his favorite time of day! Or it used to be."

"Used to be?"

Ferb stared at her for a moment, with his calm eyes blinking. "You don't get it, do you?" he asked. "He's _still in bed_ , with all the blinds closed, just staring at the wall. He's been laying there for hours, even though he was awake with the sun as usual."

"Why?"

Ferb saw he was going to have to spell it out of her. "Because of what you said to him," he said, wanting to be angry, but restraining himself. "About embarrassing you with our inventions, about hoping he never builds anything again? He took that hard, Candace. He took it seriously."

"Oh!" Candace felt bad for a moment, but then she lightly tossed her hand. "Meh, he'll get over it, he knows I didn't mean it."

"I don't think he does," Ferb said quietly.

"But _you_ clearly do," Candace said, and when Ferb didn't answer she went on impatiently, "Look, Isabella told me that Baljeet made you climb a whole mountain without building anything, and Phineas almost went berserk. Something will drag him out of that bed eventually."

"Candace," said Ferb, in a firm voice his sister rarely heard from him, "This is different. He thinks the world of you, don't you get that? Your opinion is the only one that matters to him; if you don't want him building anything, then he doesn't want to build anything."

"Gosh, wish I'd known that a long time ago!" Candace said laughing.

"This is serious, Candace!" Ferb continued. "Look, he and I may be best friends now, but you've still been there for him longer than I have. You two will always have a bond that extends back further than the one with me. You make or break his world, and right now, he's crushed thinking that he's been hurting you all this time."

Candace began to ache at the thought of that, but she tried to ignore it. "I'm—I'm sure he's just being dramatic," she said, swallowing. "I'm going to the mall, okay? You can tell Phineas I'll stay out of his way today, and you can build whatever you want without fear of embarrassing me or getting busted. I know the whole thing will disappear by the time Mom gets back, anyway."

Ferb didn't reply, but watched Candace grab her purse and run down the stairs. "See ya," she said, hastily running out the front door.

Candace tried to banish the nagging worry in her head. Had she really hurt Phineas? Was he really that sensitive? He'd always been such a positive person, she just couldn't believe something like this would throw him down so easily. And what about Ferb? He hadn't seemed to be hurt, but one could never tell with him. He wouldn't waste words complaining about himself, especially not if Phineas was taking it harder. No, no they both just needed to build an amusement park in space or something to get it out of their system, and things would be back to normal.

Still, when Candace arrived at the mall, she found her feet wandering over to Mr. Slushy Burger to see Jeremy. She was so lost in thought that she didn't even notice the debris and chaos surrounding her.

"Hey!" Jeremy called, when he saw her coming. "What's the matter? Brothers getting you down?"

"Worse," she moaned. "I'm getting _them_ down. Do you have time to talk to me?"

"Only if you're a customer," he said, handing her a slushy dawg. "So, here."

"Thanks." Candace took a bite and raised her eyebrows. "Stacy's right, this _does_ taste slushier than normal."

"So what happened?" Jeremy asked.

Candace sighed. "They were growing a plant for Isabella with this super speed potion thing yesterday," she said. "And I was about to call my mom when I suddenly thought I could just destroy the plants myself. And that seemed to make more sense, so I did, and…kinda told Phineas he embarrassed me and I hoped he and Ferb wouldn't build anything again."

"Wow," Jeremy said. "Tough love."

"Exactly!" Candace momentarily brightened up. "That's what it was…tough love! I didn't actually want or expect them to stop, but Phineas didn't get up this morning, and they didn't build anything. Ferb said he was just lying in bed, in a darkened room, because my opinion was the only one that matters and if it isn't good his life has no meaning…or something like that."

"Sounds like he's really upset," Jeremy said.

"Why though? Candace demanded. "I say stuff like that all the time, and this isn't even the first time I've destroyed something of his! It's just…the first time I've intentionally destroyed it without him getting to use it first." She buried her face in her hands. "And now I hear myself saying that."

"How's Ferb doing?" Jeremy asked.

"That's the other thing," said Candace. "I don't know. He came to me this morning and didn't seem upset, but, well, I included him in the attack, and you know how he is when it comes to expression."

"Yeah," Jeremy nodded. "Well, they think the world of you, you know. Especially Phineas. I mean it was pretty much the two of you figuring stuff out on your own before Ferb and your step-dad became part of your family. You've got a special bond, there."

"That's what Ferb said," Candace sighed. "So now what?"

"You go to him and talk it out, of course. The good thing is that someone who loves you to that extreme is going to be anxious to forgive you."

"I guess." Candace swallowed the rest of her slushy dawg in silence, even though she'd stopped tasting it some time ago. She slid off her seat. "Well, thanks, I guess I'd better get going. No, wait, I told Ferb I'd stay out of their hair today, just in case they wanted to build something." She looked around, noticing the mess for the first time. "Woah, what happened here?"

"Dunno," Jeremy said. "There was some pharmacist going around town yesterday blasting people with a ray that made them go nuts. Think that's what happened to you?"

Candace thought about it for a minute, but then sighed and shook her head. "I wish, but no, it was just an ordinary temptation, one that I was stupid enough to give in to." She gave her boyfriend a little wave as she walked away. "See you later, Jeremy."


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3

As Candace moseyed through the Mall, she was surprised to hear a "Candace! Hey! Candace!" She turned to see her best friend running up to her.

"Well look who actually still wants to talk to me," she said, but she smiled all the same.

"Sorry," Stacy said. "Had a crazy day. And night. And…day yesterday. But anyway, how did your fight with your brothers end?"

Candace was never one to keep things to herself, and Stacy had always been someone she could vent to, but right now she just wanted to shove all those thoughts out of her head and pretend they didn't exist. "We got over it," she lied. "It wasn't anything big."

"Good," Stacy said. "Because if I didn't know better, I'd say you were hit with a temptation-inator." Candace gave her a funny look, and Stacy said quickly, "Which is of course a ridiculous idea and not a real thing at all."

"Jeremy said something similar," Candace said.

"Yeah, well, it was kind of a big news story," Stacy said.

Candace sighed. "Well, if I hear it too much, I'll start believing that's what happened to me, so let's just not talk about anything that went down in the past 36 hours and just enjoy ourselves today."

"Agreed!" Stacy said enthusiastically.

And Candace did enjoy herself, but she couldn't shove her brothers out of her head altogether. She kept seeing things that made them think of them, and she couldn't help remembering Ferb's words. _You make or break his world, and right now, he's crushed thinking that he's been hurting you all this time._ Candace was dying to get home and see the inevitable creation in her backyard, but if Phineas had come out today she didn't want to shove him away again. So she lingered until she could linger no longer. Stacy went home for dinner, Candace got home as speedily as she could. And…nothing was in the backyard, but even though she told herself that didn't necessarily mean anything, she still stood reluctantly on the sidewalk, staring at her house.

"Hey, Candace," said an uncharacteristically depressed voice from behind her. She turned to see Isabella walking up to her.

"Hey," she replied. "Wait, isn't it your Mom's birthday?"

"Yeah, but we had a whole family party earlier," Isabella answered, still glumly. "Now she's out with friends."

"So you don't know what the boys built?" Candace asked.

"I don't think they built anything," Isabella said. "I went over earlier to tell them I couldn't do the day's activity, but Ferb told me Phineas was still upset." She gave Candace what might have been considered an admonishing look. "I'd have thought you'd make up by now."

"Hey, don't look at me!" Candace protested. "How was I to know he'd take it so hard, when that's what I've been trying to do to him all summer?"

Isabella shuffled her feet nervously before saying, "I think Phineas is the kindest and most forgiving person to have ever been born, but he's also more oblivious than I'd like. I've never had to tell the others about my crush on him, because to them it was obvious, and yet he's totally missed it. It's kind of the same with this…he's just always viewed you as a big sister who is interested in his creations and wants to show them to your mother. Even if you said you want to bust him, he couldn't imagine you actually wanting to hurt him. Until yesterday, when you actually went and did it."

Candace looked at her, thinking over what the Fireside Girl had said. "But I _don't_ want to hurt him, can't he at least see that? He's my brother, and I love him, and busting him is just in my job description! I don't know why I destroyed his project yesterday, but I know there won't be a repeat of that."

Isabella held up her hands. "Hey, no need to tell me any of this. I'm not the one you locked in a bedroom all day."

"Oh my gosh, he hasn't even left his room?" Candace asked, beginning to panic.

"Well, I haven't seen him," Isabella said. "And I'm usually pretty good at spotting him when he comes outside."

At any other time Candace might have seriously questioned the fact that her neighbor was a borderline stalker, but instead she just called, "Got to go Isabella, tell your mom I said Happy Birthday!" and ran into her house without a second thought.

The first thing she saw was Ferb, sitting at the kitchen table, eating a plate of leftover lasagna. Alone. "Hey—hey Ferb," she said nervously. "Um, how'd your day go?"

Ferb continued calmly eating. "Oh, I don't know," he said. "It was fine I suppose. I spent the whole day reading The Lord of the Rings, which I wouldn't have a problem with, except that it was very dark in my room, and I _did_ have plans to make an underwater petting zoo today."

Candace closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she said, "Okay, I get it, Phineas won't get over this on his own, I have to go in there and make things right. Has he eaten?"

Ferb shook his head. "I was debating whether to take him some lasagna or drag him out here for it."

"I'll take it." Candace grabbed a plate and fork, and began sprinting up the stairs. But then she turned and walked back.

"Hey…Ferb?" she asked. "We're good, right? You know I was just ranting and didn't mean a thing I said yesterday, don't you?"

He nodded. "I do know that," he said. "And I forgive you. But I'm on his side in this, so you'd better make it up to him or you lose both of us."

Candace realized the stakes were higher than she'd thought, and finished climbing the stairs. She knocked timidly on the partially opened door, but wasn't really expecting a response, so she just walked in and saw Phineas sitting on his bed. Still in his pajamas, but at least the bed was made and there was a light on. He was balancing Perry on his head, but when he saw Candace he jerked up too suddenly and Perry fell off with a surprised chatter.

"Hi," Candace whispered.

"Hi," he said, unable to meet her eyes.

Candace didn't know what to do next, so she just held out the plate. "Here," she said. "Mom left this for us, since she went out to eat with Isabella's mom."

"Thanks," Phineas said, but he set the plate down without looking at it.

They sat there a moment, and finally Candace was ready and opened her mouth, but Phineas beat her to it. "I don't mean to embarrass you, Candace," he said in a choked voice. "I wish you'd told me before what I was doing wrong."

"Stop that!" Candace said suddenly. "Stop being so apologetic, Phineas, I'm the one in the wrong here! I'm never there for you, I only come to you when I need something, and I don't recognize you for the genius you are! Of course I'm always proud of your inventions, and am honored to be your sister! I don't know what it is in me that causes an insatiable desire to bust you, but it isn't because you're doing anything wrong. You hear me? You get out there, and you keep making inventions for the rest of your life, and when you're winning your Nobel Prize, don't forget to thank the sister who told you that you'd get there some day."

Phineas' mouth hung slightly open, but he closed it and looked worried.

"I'm sorry, Phineas," Candace said feelingly. "I'm so, so sorry; I should never have destroyed your project yesterday, I should have tried to get Mom and bring her back so that she could not see it, like usual. I'm the one who hurt you, and I'll never forgive myself. If I'd thought you were actually going to stay in here all day I would have come back sooner, but I just thought you'd know I was being a jerky sister, and nothing more."

"You're not a jerky sister," he said. "You never have been. And what do you mean you're never there for me? After everything happened with dad…our real dad…I was so upset, remember? And you were with me the whole time, making me laugh, and telling me it was going to be okay. You were my best friend, and that's why I hated myself so much for not seeing that I was embarrassing you. So much so that I was willing to never build anything again, just to make you happy."

Everything that Phineas had felt all day was now crashing on top of Candace like a hurricane. "No," she said. "No no no, you got it all wrong, and that was my bad. I _do_ want you to keep building things, and if I ever lash out at you, just remember we still are siblings, and fighting is a natural part of our lives. But I'll always be willing to make it up to you, because you're my brother and I love you. Kay?"

Phineas jumped off his bed and hugged her, and she'd never felt such a lump in her throat as she hugged him back. "Okay," he said. "I love you too, Candace."

But then Candace stepped back, and squinted at him. "Of course you understand none of this means I'm not going to still try and get Mom to bust you," she said. "Right?"

Phineas grinned at her. "Fair enough," he said. "After all, you trying to bust us is what allows us to spend so much time together."

Candace laughed and hugged him again. "Right," she said sarcastically. "That is why I do it, and for no other reason whatsoever!"

But the smile he gave her as he looked into her eyes was enough for her to momentarily believe that thatmaybe _was_ why she tried so hard to bust them.

Funny the things one does to show they care.

 **The End**


End file.
